Members of the Senate have concluded voting through a secret ballot to elect a new chairman. After the chairman is elected, voting will commence for the deputy chairman post.

Earlier on Monday, 51 newly-elected Senators took oath by presiding officer Senator Sardar Yaqub Khan when the Senate session began a little after 10am. Ishaq Dar could not take oath as he is in London on medical grounds.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allies National Party (NP), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), PML-Functional and Awami National Party agreed on PML-N’s Raja Zafarul Haq as chairman and PkMAP’s Usman Kakar as deputy chairman.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rallied behind Sadiq Sanjrani, an independent senator from Balochistan, for chairman.